FORKS — Neah Bay turned up its defensive intensity in the second quarter, blanking Forks 27-0 and rolling to a 54-29 girls basketball victory on the road.
“1-3-1 [zone press] and they had a hard time dealing with it,” Red Devils coach Tina Grimes-Brown said.
Laila Greene connected on three 3-point baskets and scored 15 of her game-high 18 points during the second-quarter barrage.
“She was at the top of the press causing havoc,” Grimes-Brown said. “And she was playing relaxed. I moved her from point guard to shooting guard because she can really shoot the ball.”
“They just blitzed us, they came out and put it to us,” Spartans coach David Hurn said.
“The second quarter, that’s not really who we are and who we are going to be.”
Hurn said his team missed a quite a few shots and had a lot of mental errors during the run.
Forks committed eight of its 19 turnovers in the quarter.
“Man, it was close through the first quarter, the second quarter hit and we were missing one of our guards. We had to turn to a couple of freshman and that may not have been fair to them to get varsity minutes against a team like Neah Bay.”
But Hurn did like how his players responded to the loss.
“They were frustrated and upset,” Hurn said. “As a coach you like to see them frustrated and asking questions because that shows they want to get better and they know they are better.”
The Spartans and Red Devils will meet again in Neah Bay on Wednesday.
Before the rematch, Forks (2-1) visits Sequim on Monday and Neah Bay (1-1) hosts Darrington tonight.
Neah Bay 54, Forks 29
Neah Bay 9 27 4 14— 54
Forks 5 0 12 12— 29
Neah Bay (54) — Greene 18, Swan 15, Gagnon 6, Aguirre 4, Moss 4, Woodruff 3, Lovik 2, Cummins 2, Horesji, Pilatti.
Forks (29) — Leverington 11, Peters 8, Bouchard 3, Olson 3, Rancourt 1, Horton, Kilmer.
Port Angeles 65, Cascade Christian 40
PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders enjoyed a 10-point lead at halftime against the Class 1A Nisqually League Cougars, but it was the second half that saw Port Angeles put it together on both ends of the floor.
“In the second half, we started in our 1-3-1 [zone] and forced four straight turnovers, helping us jump out to a bigger lead that stayed around 20 points the rest of the way,” Riders coach Michael Poindexter said.
“On offense, we settled for outside shots a little too quickly in the first half, but in the second, we had a more balanced attack, scoring inside and in transition, most notably Madi Cooke and Eve Burke. Madi had 12 of her 19 points in the second half and Eve had 8 of her 11 in the second half.
“Our rebounding energy was solid for most of the night and our defensive movement and communication was improved from previous games.”
Port Angeles (2-1) visits Kingston (0-1, 1-2) on Friday.
CC 11 10 6 13 — 40
PA 13 18 15 19 — 65
Individual scoring:
Cascade Christian: Sarah Midimo 11, Ivy Bartlett 11, Gabi Miller 8, Lexi Joy 5, Kayla Hughes 2, Lexi Pearson 2, Anniah Smith 1.
PA: Madison Cooke 19, Eve Burke 11, Millie Long 10, Bailee Larson 8, Jaida Wood 8, Myra Walker 4, Aeverie Politika 3, Kia Noel 2, Mikkiah Brady, Summer Olsen
Sequim 79, Kingston 36
SEQUIM — Hope Glasser put up 21 points and 19 rebounds and Jayla Julmist added 13 points and 20 boards as the Wolves handled the Buccaneers in their Olympic League 2A Division opener.
Jessica Dietzman added 12 points and five steals in the win.
Sequim coach Linsay Rapelje was pleased the Wolves only turned the ball over 10 times.
Sequim (1-0, 3-0) visits North Mason (0-1, 5-1) on Friday.
Sequim 79, Kingston 36
Kingston 9 10 10 7— 36
Sequim 18 20 32 9— 79
Sequim (79) — Glasser 21, Dietzman 12, Sparks 2, Pyeatt 8, Shroeder 4, Wiker 5, Porter 14, Julmist 13.
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Compiled from team reports. Email scores to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or phone 360-417-3525.